Lubricant-expelling cup



Invewaw:

yHFu/Ze', m vv l fan" P. H. FULLER Filed NOV, l0. 1925 Dec. 3, 1929.

LUBRIANT EXPELLING CUP Patented Dec. 3, 1929* UNITED sTnTEs PATENT oEFlcE PEBLEY H. FULLER, OF AUBURN, MATINEFASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ALEMITE CORPORATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE LUEBIcANr-nxPELLnve our Application led November 10,1925. Serial No. 68,180.

Fi 3 is a section on the same line as Fig.

2, belng partly in elevation and showing the -relation of parts when the cup 1s nearly empty- Referri to-the drawings', I have illustrated a lu ricant cup which is adapted to feed lubricant to a part tol be lubricated at a uniform rate throughout the entire period that is required to use the-contents of a cup.

It does not feed lubricant faster at the be-v ginning of the stroke of the piston than at the end, as do other well known devices used for the same purposes, and therefore 1s much more efficient.

The reservoir, piston and means for filling the reservoir may be constructed in any suitable or well known manner, but I prefer to provide a reservoir 1, which has a removablecap 2, at the top, through which the stem 3 of the piston 4 may slide when the piston reci rocates in the reservoir. The stem 3 has-a lubricantfreceiving nipple 3 connected to its upper end for cooperative engagement with a nozzle of a source of lubricant under pressure (not shown). A passage 5 is provided in the stem toermit the lubricant to pass to the lower, si e of the iston. A helical coil spring 6 is interpose between the piston 4 and the 'cap 2 as shown in Fig. 3. j

' At the lower end of the cup, I have provided a bore 7, in which are arranged the parts which make up the automatic lubricant flow regulatlng means, as'shown in Figs. 2

and 3. These parts include a slide valve 8, which fits into the lar e part of the bore 7, a stop 9 threaded into t e large portion of the bore and a s ring 10 located in the smaller portion of t e bore. The spring `10 bears against one end of the slide valve 8 and is held in the small ortion of the bore by a plug 11.' The sli e valve has an annular -opens the smaller groove 12 for communication 'with'the open-l ing 13 above the valve and theF discharge passage 14 located below the valve. A port 15 between the large portion of lthe bore 7 and .the reservoir 1 is provided for purposes more.

fully hereinafter described, anda vent 16 portion of the bore to the atmosphere.

Operation of the cup is aslfollows :--First, assuming that the Vreservoir is elpty, a supply feoflubricant lunder presure is connected to the nipple 3 and the 'lubricant flows through the passage 5 to the reservoir 1 thereby forcing the piston 4 toward the top 4to fill the reservoir and compress the s ring 6 as shown in Fig. 2. The supply of ubricant is then disconnected from the nipple 3EL and the cup is ready to feed lubricant to a part (not shown) to be lubricated. From this point on, the moving parts of the cup function automatically tov feed a uniform quantity of lubricant to the part to be lubri-` cated. When the reservoir 1s full of lubricant, the spring 6 exerts greater pressure on the piston 4 than it does when the reservoir v 1s empty and betweenl these two points the pressure exerted by the spring gradually decreases. Therefore, if the slide valve means were omitted, a gradually decreasing flow of lubricant would pass through the passage 14 to thefpart to be lubricated. How- 'asy ever, the groove 12 of the slide valve cooper-I ates with the passages 13 and 14 to 'automatically increase the cross-sectional area through' which the lubricant passes as the pressure on the lubricant decreases. This operation will be readily understood by a comparison between Figs. 2 and 3. In Fig. 2, the pressure on the lubricant is greatest and as the lubricant passes through the port 15 and acts upon the slide valve to move it toward the shouder 17, which provides a stop, the effective crosssectional area through which lubricant may pass is relatively small compared with that shown in Fig. 3, when the pressure on the lubricant is greatly reduced. Therefore, in v or'der to compensate for the decrease in pressure in the reservoir, the cross-sectional area. of the passage from the reservoir 'to the outv. passae 7 let 14 must be adually increased to permit passage of the ubricant.

The shoulder 17 is important because it prevents the slide valve 8 from moving into a position which would interiorly cut oli? passage of lubricant from the passage 13 to the` 14.- If the passage of lubricant were cut o act upon the valve 8 and keep it closed, therelFiy preventing further operation of the cup. rom the foregoing description, it will be readily understood that the fessure of the y lubricant, in combination Wit the spring 10, controls the operation of the slide valve 8 so that the rate of ow of lubricant through the passage 14 is the same throughout the entire stroke of the piston.

The vent 16 is provided to permit any lubricant, which mi ht leak by the slide, to pass out of the cup an not interfere `with the operation of the valve.

lW'llle I have shown and describedA a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that changes involving cmission, alteration, substitution and reversal of parts, and even changes in the mode of operation, may be made Without departing from the scope of m invention which is best defmed'in the fol owing claim:

A 'lubricant cup comV rising a reservoir havin a cap and an out et passage, a piston slidab e in said reservoir, a conical helical Sprin tensioned between said cap and piston, a ho ow piston rod having a quick detachable iitting on its exterior end, a valve chamber in communicationwith the outlet passage of the reservoir, a slide valve located in said chamber, said reservoir having a port in communication with the valve chamber at one side of said valve to permit lubricant to act on the valve in one direction, the bore of the valve chamber being of restricted diam- ,eter adjacent one end thereof to provide a shoulder at its unction with the enlarged bore, said shoul er acting as a stop for the valve in one direction of tsrmovement to prevent total closure of the reservoir outlet, a spring for moving said valve in a direction away from said shoulder, and an adjustable stop in the other end of said valve chamber to limit the extent of movement of the valve under the inuence of said spring.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

PERLEY I-I. FULLER.

the pressure of the lubricant would 

